The present invention relates to an electronic commerce system and method.
Electronic commerce is achieving widespread use. Transactions are preformed everyday over the Internet and through point of sale (POS) or bank systems. Such systems are designed to maintain the integrity of the user""s credit card, debit card, and account number. However, no measures are taken to ensure the privacy of the user. As the vendor retains information regarding the identity of the user, the user is open to receipt of marketing materials that may result from the data mining of transactions performed on a particular network.
User privacy is of particular concern with regard to distribution of products. For example, there is a lack of intelligent and automatic technology which can function on behalf of a merchant to manage inventory and assets within and across boundaries (merchant-to-merchant, merchant-to-consumer, merchant-to-other supply chains). Also, there is a lack of a secure, policy-enabled, automated merchant-to-merchant inventory exchange model. Additionally, most traditional delivery mechanisms require the consumer to be home or present in order for delivery to occur, resulting in multiple re-delivery costs.
An apparatus including a secure kiosk capable of containing products, and a consumer access device to unlock and retrieve a product from the secure kiosk is disclosed.